British embassy staff to strike

Staff at the British embassy in Dublin are to go on strike on Thursday after the ambassador rejected an invitation to talks at…

Staff at the British embassy in Dublin are to go on strike on Thursday after the ambassador rejected an invitation to talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) following a dispute over redundancies.

The LRC wrote to ambassador David Reddaway and Unite, the union representing embassy staff, last week offering to host talks between the two. The Dublin embassy is the only British diplomatic mission in the world which recognises trade unions.

Union members voted 90 per cent in favour of strike action after three embassy employees, all senior officials, were told they were being made redundant last month. All three work in the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) section at the embassy.

More than 40 staff employed at the embassy and the ambassador's residence are expected to take part in the strike.

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"There is an agreed procedure for handling disputes through the Labour Relations Commission," said Unite regional officer, Colm Quinlan, after a meeting with members yesterday.

"We were ready and willing to go there, but the ambassador has, late in the day, dismissed this final avenue towards a peaceful resolution."

In a statement, the embassy regretted that union members had opted for industrial action and insisted the three job cuts were necessary, reflecting the need to "realign overseas network resources with UKTI's strategic priorities" including emerging markets.

"We had first sought to avoid these job cuts in UKTI section and then, when this proved impossible, had examined alternatives to the redundancies.

"Having gone through that process we concluded, with regret, that there was no alternative to compulsory redundancies," the statement said.

"We have great respect for the Labour Relations Commission. But in these particular circumstances we saw no merit in taking up the LRC's invitation to use their services to discuss "proposed redundancies" since those redundancies had already taken place. We remain ready to discuss the detail of the redundancy packages with Unite: an offer we have repeated today."

The embassy will remain open for business on Thursday, the statement said.